Government keen to work with RBI to help people affected in real estate sector: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Mumbai: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that 'prevailing sluggishness' in the real estate sector needs to be addressed and the government is very keen on working with RBI to see how best to help the people who have been affected in the real estate sector by tweaking laws where necessary.

Speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of National Stock Exchange (NSE) here, Sitharaman said the real estate sector has a spillover effect and requires more attention. "Alternative funds are approaching us saying they would like to work with us, so long as support mechanism is available for reviving the sector. The real estate sector has a spillover effect on very many sectors. Core industries which supply material and several home-buyers looking up to the government for solutions will benefit from a revival of the real estate sector," the minister said.

"The government is very keen on working with RBI to see how best we can, where necessary, tweak existing laws to help the people who have been affected in the real estate sector," she added.

The Finance Minister said that though India is still dependent on banks for debts and debt functioning, banks alone cannot serve this cause. The Finance Minister praised National Stock Exchange for showing "an extraordinary positive inclination to use technology with an objective to democratise, to retail and to take stock market to the people" in the last 25 years since its inception.